What A Beautiful Day For A Wedding
by Contrary-Miss-Mary
Summary: In which Jack and Red attend and discuss three weddings and learn about friendship, love, and cake. Mostly Jack/Red, other parings hinted at. Three-shot.


Jack shouldn't have been at the royal wedding. He didn't feel he deserved to go there, he wasn't interested in going there, and he didn't have any clue what to do once he got there. Still, the crown prince and his young bride had invited the whole kingdom to the gala, and even he wasn't dim enough to ignore an invitation from royalty.

So, at the insistence of his mother, he was obligated to meander around the palace garden all afternoon, joining in the celebration as much as he could. He was on his way to get a glass of water when he literally ran into a blonde girl hovering over the dessert table.

Apologies spurted out of Jack's mouth as he checked to see if he had knocked her into the pastries. The Girl angrily turned to face her attacker, and Jack steeled himself for a flood of curses, but instead was stunned to recognize the familiar face of Little Red Riding Hood. Jack didn't know her very well, but faintly remembered running into her once or twice in the woods.

Red was apparently less surprised than he was, or at least less interested, for she simply nodded in recognition of him before diverting her gaze back to the pastries in front of her. Jack gave her a quick once-over, bashfully admiring how nice she looked in her white party dress, with a perky red bow tied snug around her waist.

She must caught him staring at her, because she turned to him once again, and raised an eyebrow expectantly. He looked down and cleared his throat, before shyly letting out a hello.

"Hi again," she responded

"You look very pretty today. Your dress is nice, too," he said, gesturing to her ensemble.

"Thank you," she returned. "I like your tie. But I don't think you tied it right."

He looked down at his new tie, painfully aware of the awful job he had done with his knot. As he hastily tried to fix it, he nodded to the plate she was holding, and asked, "What are you doing?"

Suddenly remembering the task at hand, Red greedily stared back at the table of goodies. "Trying to decide what to eat."

Jack scanned the table quickly before his eyes landed on a beautiful multi-tiered cake right in the center. He pointed at it, excitedly remarking,

"You should try the cake. It looks really nice and gooey."

He looked at her thoughtfully before decidedly saying,"Here, I'll get a piece for you, so if you like it, you can come back for more without making people suspicious."

Red glanced at him in surprise before shrugging and letting him hand her a plate. She skipped over to the table and happily dug in.

He watched her awkwardly for a little while, before she turned to look up at him, a dollop of buttercream frosting adorning her perky little nose.

"I like you," She smiled sweetly as he passed her a napkin. " Remind me not to use my knife on you."

He took a small step back, and with a wince, replied, "Are you always so violent?"

"Only with strangers," she nodded carefully. She scooped another forkful of cake into her mouth, before continuing, in a somewhat muffled tone,"It's for my own good."

"But I'm not a stranger! We've met before," The uneasy boy pointed out firmly.

" Well, I suppose that's true..." Red shrugged and plopped her now empty plate on the table, before taking a short step towards him. Despite himself, Jack felt his cheeks flame up as the girl drew closer.

"Anyway," she started curtly, indicating that she had already moved on to a much more important matter. "I still shouldn't be talking to you, because you're a liar."

Jack stared at her wordlessly, utterly confused at her statement. Finally, he slowly said, "I have no clue what you're talking about."

She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, an unbelieving smile hovering on her lips. "Surely you remember last time we met, right?" she laughed. A few moments passed before she rolled her eyes and continued. "You promised me that you would prove there were giants. Well, show me the proof."

Jack snorted, shaking his head at her in disbelief. "What, like could have known you were even coming to the wedding? My proof is my word. I'm not a liar."

She laughed again, curls bouncing madly with the slight bob of her head. With a smug glint in her eye, she quickly said, "Well, it sure seemed like a lie to me. A great big fib."

Jack felt his face flush and his brow furrow, and was steeling himself to tell her off, when she rested her small hand on his forearm. Her soft touch caught him by surprise, and before he could even open his mouth, she asked,"Do you wanna dance with me?"

"What?" He looked at her with confusion, unsure whether or not he had heard her correctly.

"C'mon, let's dance!" she repeated, this time grabbing his hands in excitement. Jack was at a loss for what to do. He'd never been asked to dance before, and certainly not by a _girl_. And not just any girl either. A special one, who was as pretty as she was terrifying, who always spoke her mind, who was the cleverest person he's ever met, whose perfect hands fit so snugly in his own...

Jack shook his head fervently. He wouldn't allow himself to go weak-kneed for anyone,_especially_ not this girl.

Although he didn't pull his hands back, he flatly replied,"Why would you want to dance with me? Aren't I just a good-for-nothing liar?"

It took Red a moment, but finally, she responded."Well, liar or not, I think you're interesting. Plus, I'm bored and I finished all my cake." She grinned, a smile so bright that Jack felt his heartbeat instantly quicken. "The real question is, why shouldn't I want to dance with you?"

Jack shrugged bashfully, before letting the gleeful girl lead him over to where everyone else was participating in a lively wedding dance.

Jack really shouldn't have been at the royal wedding. But, for the first time since the reception had began, he was glad he was.

* * *

A/N: If you can guess which to shows inspired the title of this chapter and the story itself, I'll give you a cookie (and maybe I'll write you a special story) :D

Please fave, follow, and review if you liked it! Even if you didn't, feel free to leave CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, as I always try to use reader feedback to improve as an author. See ya next chapter!


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